Nigeria Will Conduct Two Days of “Mop-Up” Voter Registration

Feb. 5 (Bloomberg) -- Nigeria will conduct a “mop-up”
voter registration drive Feb. 6-7 to accommodate people who
haven’t registered for the April general elections, the
country’s electoral agency said today.

The exercise will be held in places where registration
couldn’t begin early “due to communal conflicts,
overpopulation, technical or logistical challenges,” the
National Electoral Commission, or Inec, said today in an
e-mailed statement.

A voter registration drive was initially scheduled for the
two weeks ended Jan. 29 and was extended by a week because of
difficulties experienced at centers across the West African
country. The two-day extension will be offered in places
including Bauchi and Borno states in northern Nigeria, where
sectarian violence has occurred recently.

Nigeria, Africa’s most populous nation and the continent’s
biggest oil producer, will hold a presidential election on
April 9.